


Time Travel

by DancingInTheSliverGlow



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Amara - Freeform, Angel Powers (Supernatural), Angel Wings, Angst, Angst and Feels, ArchAngel Michael - Freeform, Archangels, Boys In Love, Character Death, Chuck Shurley is God, Chuck Shurley is Not God, Episode: s15e08 Ass Burgers, Falling In Love, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mentions of Chuck - Freeform, Mentions of Death, Mentions of amara, Mentions of the Empty, Michael Possessing Adam Milligan, Mutual Pining, OG death (supernatural), One Shot, One Shot Collection, Pining, Post-Lucifer's Cage (Supernatural), Short One Shot, Supernatural Elements, The Empty (Supernatural), Time Travel, Wings, a lil bit of fluff, alternate 7 time travel, chuck - Freeform, febuwhump alternate 7 time travel, febuwhump day 4, febuwhump day 4 time travel, i can't believe thats a tag, implied mutual pining, michael goes back to see Adam, michael has wings, michael is in love, michael is in love with Adam, midam, supernatural s15e08, supernatural s15e19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29195541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingInTheSliverGlow/pseuds/DancingInTheSliverGlow
Summary: After Chuck kills Adam, Michael travels back in time to see (and hug) Adam.
Relationships: Michael/Adam Milligan
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137995
Comments: 14
Kudos: 38
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Time Travel

Adam was dead.

Michael had done everything he could to prevent Adam from dying in Chuck’s deranged tantrum against the Winchesters. He had stayed low, off the radar while hiding Adam’s presence from everyone in existence. He had used every spell, every sigil he knew.

None of it was enough to stop Chuck from killing Adam.

Adam is dead, and Michael doesn’t know what to do with himself anymore. Briefly, the thought of returning to heaven and assuming his place of leadership over the angels crosses his mind. He immediately discards the thought. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Adam’s soul wasn’t in Heaven. Because there was no way that a soul like Adam’s would ever go to hell (not unless Lucifer dragged it there himself) and Michael doesn’t want to figure out if Chuck killed Adam, or simply erased him from existence. 

Plus, Michael wasn’t the same archangel warrior that had fallen in the pit with Lucifer. No, his years stuck in the cage with Lucifer and Adam had changed him. Michael had no desire to rule heaven, to guide the other angels or to do Chuck’s bidding. 

Doing the latter actually made him feel sick, despite the fact that being an archangel Michael couldn’t actually get sick. Nonetheless, he remembered the feeling and memories from Adam.

Adam. Everything Michael wanted to do was centered around Adam. He wanted to stay with Adam. He wanted to explore the world with Adam. He wanted to watch the expressions of pure bliss on Adam’s face as he rediscovered humanity’s pleasures. He wanted to listen to Adam babble on about human things, anything really, for the rest of his existence. Adam had a way of making anything interesting, even the weird human devices that had developed in the past century or so. 

But Adam was dead. There was no way of seeing him alive again. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was one way… 

Michael lifted his wings. Around him light flashed across the dimension. Michael summoned his power and concentrated on the moment in the dinner before Lilith had arrived. He closed his eyes and concentrated and a moment later, Michael was gone.

…

Michael appeared in the restaurant, standing a few steps away from Adam as Adam raised the burger to his lips. Instantly the past Michael took control and glared at him. After a few moments, past Michael seemed to recognize himself and a wary expression took over. 

“I mean you and Adam no harm.” Michael reassured his past self, holding up his hands in the manner that Adam has described as human for ‘surrender.’ “I know how much he means to both of us.”

Past Michael seemed to accept that settled back in his seat, and Michael took the seat across from him. He studied his past self. In the few weeks that separated them, little had changed. Of course, there were a few critical events that separated them, Michael realizing that Chuck wasn’t _good,_ a few immensely enjoyable conversations and trips with Adam, one fond incident involving an over-eager Adam and a beluga whale but that was about it. Aside from Adam’s death, which was the whole reason why he was here. 

Michael knew the rules of time travel. Only short bursts were possible, and despite any efforts, changing the past was impossible. It didn’t matter if you rearranged a few threads or poked a few holes in a scarf, the scarf would still and always be a scarf. Michael couldn’t save Adam’s life, he knew that. But maybe he could spend just a little more time with Adam. 

Michael watched his past self. There were minute twitches in his - in Adam’s facial expression and Michael knew that past Michael was talking to Adam. He figured Adam would be curious about him. They had a few conversations about time travel, before he died. Adam wanted to see the dinosaurs, he wanted to see if the scientists and movie animators had gotten it right for himself. Michael had promised to take him one day. Chuck had killed Adam before Michael was able to make good on his promise.

“You should let him have his burger.” Michael tries to look beyond his past self, and at Adam instead. “Apparently, while a cold burger is good, a burger still hot from the stove is, quote, the best thing since hot tubs.”

There’s another twitch on his past self’s face, and then his past self hands the controls to Adam and creates an illusion of himself next to Adam. 

Adam studies Michael curiously. “How far in the future are you from?” He picks up his burger, and immediately bites into it.

Both Michaels watch him make that expression of pure bliss, and watch as his whole body slumps down as the tension eases away. “You’re right. This is so good. I know I don’t need to eat, but it's almost a crime not to have this.”

Michael’s attention drifts from Adam to his past self and seeing the intensity of the fondness on his face surprises him. Of course he knows how he feels - he just didn’t think he was that obvious.

Past Michael catches him looking and scowls. He immediately follows Adam’s question up with another. “And where is your Adam?”

Michael looks down and studies the table for a moment, trying to figure out how to break his past self’s heart. “Adam… isn’t with me anymore.”

Adam stops chewing and sets his burger down. “You… you left me?” Michael can tell that Adam is trying to hide it, but Adam can’t fully hide the sadness in his voice. He came to the wrong conclusion, but Michael feels for him. He knows that for pretty much his entire life, he’s been second best, if that. His mom focused on her job, on keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table, leaving Michael to walk himself to school and tuck himself into bed. His father hid Adam away from his brothers. The other angels only went to Adam when they figured out that Dean either wouldn’t agree to be his vessel, or would only do it if they threatened someone Dean cared about. Even Michael himself had chosen Adam second, after Dean. 

Past Michael’s response is different. He leans forward, face scowling in anger. “Someone killed him?”

Michael glances at his past self and nods.

Adam glances between them, his face goes blank, and then falls. “Oh.” His shoulders slump - this time in sadness.

“Who?” Past Michael nearly snarls. “Why didn’t you kill them? You’re one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe-”

“-But not the most powerful.” Michael interrupts, already knowing what his past self is getting at. “We both know that there are four more being more powerful than us, all of which we are no match for.”

Past Michael goes silent, and Adam looks between them. “What’s more powerful than an archangel? Other than, well, Chuck.”

Michael nods. “He’s one of them. Chuck has a sister, Amara. She’s the darkness, she balances Chuck out. Then there’s the empty. They’re more of a place than a person; they’re where angels and demons go when they die. The fourth is Death.”

Adam sits back, overwhelmed with the information. “And one of those guys wants me dead?”

“I… I don’t think it was personal.” Michael says slowly. “It was more of a genocide scenerio.” 

Adam appears speechless. Past Michael leans forward again. “That doesn’t make any sense. Amara’s locked up - we locked her up eons ago, the empty doesn’t interfere with humans ever, and Death - he doesn’t typically mess with other powerful beings. He wouldn’t mess with us.”

Michael shakes his head. “You’re not up to date. Amara’s no longer locked away, she’s free. The empty is awake; one of the angels managed to escape and they’re out for blood. The death you and I remember is no longer Death. He was killed, and a reaper called Bille took over.”

Past Michael goes silent, apparently also overwhelmed.

Michael turns back to Adam and frowns. He’s not eating his burger, instead he looks miserable. Maybe Michael should’ve lied about his death; then he would’ve at least gotten to see Adam be happy. However, he doubts that he would’ve been able to get any lies past his past self. 

“Did it hurt?” Adam asks suddenly, his voice cracking in emotion. “When I died, I mean. Was it like…”

Michael remembers how Adam described dying the first time, slowly getting eaten out by ghouls, screaming for help and howling in pain for hours as the ghouls laugh and feasted on his body. Michael remembers the paralyzing fear and pain he sensed from Adam when he remembered the moment.

No, this won’t do. Michael reaches across the table and takes Adam’s hands. They’re soft, warm and a little shiny from the burger. Michael looks Adam in the eyes. “It wasn’t anything like that. It didn’t hurt. I wasn’t able to stop you from trying - and I did try. I used every spell, every sigil - it bought us a few more days together but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t hurt - I made sure it didn’t, but you still knew you were going. Right before you died you made this joke.” Michael pauses, and closes his eyes as he recalls the emotionally painful moment. “You looked at me and said, ‘You’re hell of a guy.’” 

Michael pulls away as Adam cracks a laugh, and even past Michael manages the beginning of a smile. 

Then past Michael’s face becomes stormy again. “Why did you come back?” He glances at Adam, and Michael gets the message. _You’re hurting Adam._

“I-I didn’t think of that. After you died, I-I didn’t know what to do with myself. I missed you.” Michael turns to Adam. “I just wanted to see you again. I didn’t mean to hurt you like this. I’m sorry.”

Adam smiles sadly. “It’s okay. I get it.”

The Michaels share a glance, both thinking the same thing. _No, it’s not okay._

Michael sighs sadly, whatever passing for the heart of the archangel breaking, again. He has to leave, and return to his Adam-less world. This time, this world, it isn’t about Michael anymore. It isn’t about past Michael either. It’s about Adam. Adam deserves only the best. And now that past Michael knows that their time is limited, Michael knows that he’s going to make the most of it. He trusts his past self to help Adam live his life to the fullest, to the best that he can.

However they both know that Adam can’t do that, not with the knowledge of his impending death hanging of his head. Michael knows what he has to do. 

Michael stands up and steps out of the table. He looks down at Adam, and studies the micro-expressions and the softness in his eyes. He commits them to memory, knowing that this is all he will have for the rest of his life. “I should go.”

“Wait - you just got here?” Adam questions, looking confused. 

Michael shrugs and lies. “Time travel is weird like that - you can only go back for short periods of time, and those periods are even shorter when you're in that time and place.”

“Oh.” Adam looks crestfallen. It hurts something inside Michael to see him like that. Adam should be happy and free, for as long as he can. Michael knows what he needs to do. But first… 

“Adam,” Michael starts, his voice oddly vulnerable. “May I have a hug?” 

Behind Adam, past Michael’s face snaps up to look straight at him, his expression screaming, _what the hell are you doing?_

Adam smiles. “Of course.” He shuffles out of the bench and stands up. 

For Michael, it’s the easiest thing to step into Adam’s space and wrap his arms around the human. They’re the same height, so Michael’s chin goes over Adam’s shoulder easily, and he leans his head onto Adam. It takes Adam a moment, but he eventually relaxes into the hug, and Michael takes a moment to notice how… human it is. They’re pressed together, feet to head and Michael can feel the gentle body heat coming off Adam. His heart is beating a little fast, and his pulse thumping away on his wrists and neck. His breath is slow, and gentle as he exhales and the air brushes against Michael’s back. 

Michael commits the moment to memory. He hopes that past Michael takes note and gets more hugs from Adam - but he supposes there’s nothing else he can do about it. 

Michael tells himself to be happy with this.

After all, this is all he gets of Adam. 

Just the cage, and a handful of moments.

For a moment, Michael is tempted to wrap his wings around Adam. He really wants to, but he knows his past self would literally explode if he did that. Not to mention that an angel wrapping their wings around another being is a highly intimate thing - and it would be wrong to do it without consent.

It’s highly unlikely, but he can still hope that his past self will do it, and Michael will get the memory.

Michael holds Adam a little tighter, moves his head slightly away and places a kiss to the side of Adam’s head, erasing the memory of their encounter. Adam will not remember the future Michael coming and telling him of his impending death. In the same moment, he finds the path through space and time that took him here, grasps the edge, releases Adam and flies back to the present.

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone's staying safe and healthy during these troubling times.  
> Come say hi on [my tumblr :)](https://art-in-the-sunlight.tumblr.com)
> 
> Emoji Key if y'all want them:  
> ❤ = you wish you could kudos again  
> 😭 = I got you right in the feels  
> ❤️ = Midam deserves a happy ever after


End file.
